The Shadow II: Ebony Silhouette
by Hanyou Hitokiri
Summary: Years have passed since she has seen the fires of his cold eyes. Years running from something that haunted her that was beside her all the while. But the wings grow tired and worn, willing to finally give in, unwilling with relief. Oneshot


Hello! First of all, I would like to thank all those who reviewed Shadow of Rain! I hope to see all of you here as well! And, of course, the lurkers cannot be left out. You're all a great inspiration to sit my butt down and write better. Many, many thanks to you all! Also, if there are some who are reading this one and have not read the other one, this _is_ a second to said story! Note the Roman numeral two in the name. Read the other one first! Or, read this one now and if the want to read and understand happens to come along afterwards, go check out the first one then!

Now on another note, you will have to bear with me on this one. It is a transition faze of sorts and it's not the most action-packed, romantic, interesting part of the story but it is important! It really is. It will further explain some things, I hope, but also cause some questions to be asked. So, please don't abandon me yet!

In reference to questions, if there is something concerning my interpretation or anything about the vampires, Shadow, or Demons, feel free to ask in a review or message. Any questions will be answered! Unless the answer is later on in the story. Then you'll just have to wait with the rest of them.

One question some might have wanted to or did ask is why is there a sequel instead of just another chapter? Well, the answer is quite simple: the time jump between them. There is a respectable gap in time from Shadow of Rain to this one. So, what happened in the years in between? Well, that is another tale for another time. You'll know a bit of what went on, in any case, in this one.

Of course, this is AU with maybe a little bit of a lot of OOCness in some characters. Some may be more than others. Laugh if you want, but I had to work on this through some major surgery to keep all the series at the same rating level. So, this is—finally—rated accordingly due to graphic images, language, and possibly another thing that I think doesn't count anyway.

**Disclaimer:** Rurouni Kenshin does not belong to me; it belongs to Watsuki-sama and all those other people. Who are not me.

* * *

**The Shadow II**

**Ebony Silhouette**

In seven years, the fortune of the unfortunate will disperse again, leaving her bare and broken. However, if the misfortune happened to be, in actuality, a fortunate event, perhaps then the spell will finally be had. If the fears of one consume their mind, body, then to their very soul, will not those fears be brought to them one hundred fold?

Her dreams were haunting and so real. Could that heat, the burning passion of his close cold body, could it all have been yet another nightmare?

She saw him, his halo of fire that wrapped his pale, beautifully perfected face. The amethyst eyes that would change into brilliant amber were burned into her memory and followed close behind her every waking moment. Would this unforgiving image forever be her burden? She felt again, as each night after haunt-filled night showed her again and again, the fire his chilled fingers left in the wake they traveled her body, floated and brushed over her skin. Such a memory, such a true lived nightmare.

His wings, they swallowed everything. Consumed all within their night-black feathers, including her. She was trapped within a darkened world not her own. She remained even now. A powerful being with control over the thunder, the father of lighting, keeper of the rain. Was he a lover? Was he a savior? Or, was he a demon shrouded by a mask of perfection? A monster with a belly full of slithering snakes that slipped past his conniving lips in the form of the thin, hissing lies spilling so freely from his throat?

Her body now trembled as the creature before her mind's eye retreated from her sight, only to return further from her reach then before. The torture continued, would continue until the fright or tears woke her.

Visions of thundering clouds covered her; the cold winds swirled around her, playing with strands of raven hair that danced about her face. How this sight brought nothing but agony to her shattered heart. There was nothing left to flow the life through her veins; it was ripped from her chest and held in pieces by a black clawed hand.

The world began to quake forcefully, falter in her eyes. The earth called to her as it fell open, a gapping hole ready to finally consume and take her from this land of feeling and into nothing. Is it not already where she had been for seven years?

She frowned as the sky echoed for her again. The small, frantic voice was that of a child; a young boy not ready for his tone to deepen. Yet, he spoke clear and smooth, a voice that a child would not normally acquire until years into the future.

The sky split open, the blue replaced by a blur of a black color as the voice called closer now.

"Mother!"

Kaoru opened her eyes with a gasp to see a pair of concern filled orbs of deep amethyst peering from a close distance. She sat up, the boy never straying far from her as she placed a hand over her weary brow. He knelt next to her.

"Mother?" he asked. His small hand touched her shoulder.

She very much disliked having her son seen her in such a helpless state the dreams would lace her under. The dreams of pleasure and of deep feeling that bound her terribly so.

Kaoru embraced the boy in her arms, rocking him as she gathered herself. "I am fine, Kenji. There's nothing for you to worry about." She tried a smile on the child.

Wide eyes searched her face, discontented with her words. He touched her cheek softly, patting the damp skin. "You're sad," he observed.

The fire-red flames of his hair, tamed by a short tail, reminded her all the more of the one she tried so hard to forget. She took his hand and placed a gentile kiss on the back of his palm.

"Go back to sleep," she said quietly. "We have another big day tomorrow."

The boy nodded. Kenji stood, walking silently to the pallet, gathering his blanket to him. He was in slumber again in a matter of moments.

Kaoru lay down upon her own pallet, her weary mind to tired for sleep. Her dreams, though a hell in themselves, seemed to tell her of the times around her, as well as the past she survived. In her vision, she saw the accumulating clouds. It was time to leave once again.

* * *

"Kaoru," A woman spoke from the doorway to the room.

She paused in packing their possessions in the single blanket that belonged to Kenji. The boy stood guiltily by the woman, kicking the floor with his bare foot.

"Tae," Kaoru acknowledged her, sorrow and apologies in her voice, "Good morning."

"Kenji told me that you are leaving." Tae picked a shoe—one of the pair Kenji always would refuse to wear—from the corner and handed it to Kaoru. She muttered a soft thank you.

"Yes," Kaoru affirmed, tucking the disregarded sandal under a securely wrapped cloth of food.

"Why?" Tae truly was worried for the young woman.

"Kenji, please get everything else," Kaoru said. He nodded.

Tae took Kaoru from the room and into the rest of her house. These houses were far different from the huts Kaoru grew up in. These were made of many stones that were most plentiful here to withstand the strong, fierce winds that frequently blew. There was no need to shield the simple, wooden shelters of her home village from the wind. The weather was not as unpredictable as it was here, out on wide, vast plains of brown bushes and few trees. The open skies stretched as far as the eye could see, to the horizon with little if nothing to obstruct the view. The heat was greater here also without any broad-leaved trees towering above to capture the rays.

The two walked in silence to the outside where the sun should have been pulling from the horizon. Dark clouds from the east were forming, traveling with much speed.

Kaoru's heart sank.

"Now, tell me," her friend who has sheltered her and Kenji for eight months passed since their arrival in the township spoke kindly, "is there something wrong?"

"It is very difficult to explain, Tae," Kaoru shook her head. "I will tell you that we do not stay in one place long. We can't," she further explained to the question in Tae's eyes. "Please understand it has nothing to do with you. If I could stay, I would!"

"I understand," Tae said, hugging the younger woman. "You will come by and visit if you can?"

Kaoru nodded, once again leaving with tears in her eyes. "Of course! You've been so good to us."

Kenji stepped outside, the meagerly packed blanket held firmly in his little arms. Tae embraced the boy as well, and he timidly patted her arm.

"I couldn't think of a way to repay you for all your trouble," Kaoru finished, wrapping her arm about Kenji's shoulder as he stood in front of her.

Tae shook her head, holding her hand firmly in the air. "I wouldn't ask you for anything, Kaoru. Just that you be safe to wherever you are off to next."

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you so very much."

She and her son left the abode behind.

"We're always going to visit new places, aren't we mother." Kenji said, looking up at her with a smile.

"Yes," she replied. "But I think this time we will find a permanent home."

"Really?"

"Yes," Kaoru smiled, pulling him to her side as she spoke. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

"You can plant a garden!" he rejoiced.

"Well, we will have to see, Kenji. Where we are going now is very cold. Maybe a small garden indoors? How does that sound?"

He nodded. "I want to grow a flower that looks just like your eyes, mother. It'll be the most beautiful flower in the indoor garden."

Kaoru bent to place a kiss on his silken head. "I think it's wonderful. You will do a great job!"

He giggled happily.

"Travelers heading out into the plains," Tae asked from behind as Kaoru lead Kenji past the outskirts of the township. They turned. "And on foot? We can't have that!"

"Oh, Tae," Kaoru pleaded as the woman guided a horse by the rope. "You don't have to do this. You have done so much already! We'll be fine-"

The woman would not have nor hear any of it. She handed Kenji the rope as the ruddy-colored steed snorted. "Now, you take this since your mother won't," she winked.

He smiled with vigorous nods, staring wide-eyed at the animal.

She had her hand up again even before Kaoru could speak. "She's not a young horse, I won't lie to you, but she's a steady and loyal creature. She'll get you where you want to go."

Kaoru embraced her again. "You're too much. Thank you."

Tae nodded with a sadden smile. "Good-bye, Kaoru, and good fortune to the both of you."

Kaoru thanked her again and again before saying her final parting words. As they mounted the calm horse and settled comfortably on the dark multi-colored blanket, Kenji turned from his seat in front of his mother and waved.

"Good-bye!"

And they rode northward, toward the snow-filled valleys and tall mountains decorated not only at the peek in white, but covered wholly in a pure sheet. A place that snowed nearly all the year round and hardly rained, if at all. With its fewer trees of hardy bark and short stature, and of few animals built solely for the survival of the harshest winter, there were bound to be few people daring to thrive in such a climate. Yet, she was determined to find anyone who would have them.

It was a dangerous landscape Kaoru had never seen, only heard of by stories of the wild-men seeking consistent adventure in distant lands. And even they who bare many scars for their deeds and bravery in every hardship the lands ever gave them, spoke of the northern cold with a since of deep respecting fear, some even with terror. With all the blizzards that lasted for weeks and weeks without ever slowing its frost upon the land and the simple scarcity of food and adequate shelter could easily kill even the strongest of them.

Even with this knowledge, Kaoru had reached the height of her desperation, her urge to run and not know why or where. Her anxiety to fervently seek out that which is unseen and unknown. With this weary call, seven years of flight grows heavy on the wings. She wanted, she yearned for a place to stay, but could never find anywhere of satisfaction, not since she had first left seven years ago.

Her return, her last return, to her village had spoken of the mulling thoughts of the villagers. For a many number of weeks, they simply refused to see her existence. They had been waiting for something, a sign, a word. Perhaps for him to return and fetch her away again. Many weeks again passed, and he never came.

It was then she had started feeling a strange sickness befall her.

It was her agony when her stomach began to swell.

If she had stalled any longer, her once-people would have surely found what they had watched for. She fled for good one warm early spring evening as the villagers celebrated the beginning of a fresh cycle of seasons. As they danced and rejoiced, Kaoru staggered in fears and dying hopes for her own new season.

Not long after her escape, a caravan of nomads—the one and same that she had encountered before—found her. She had accepted graciously their offer to join them. She was clothed and fed, given much of the best they had to offer for a group of wandering barterers.

An elderly woman had, after a few days of walking along with the merrily chattering of a tongue Kaoru did not know, placed a leathery hand upon Kaoru's stomach. A shot of fear pierced through her as the woman spoke harshly to her, babbled to another young woman beside her as she waved her wrinkled arm. The younger woman's black eyes grew wide before she ran, disappearing into the mingling crowds as they set up another camp.

Kaoru eyed the elderly one cautiously as she wrung her hands and spoke to herself in mutters, shaking her head at times after taking a glance at her. The other returned not a moment later; trailing the older man Kaoru had translated through the last encounter with this clan. His smile was the same missing teeth smile as he attempted to calm the raving woman. She spoke quicker than before. Frantic points with her whole arm skewered Kaoru in the same spot the woman had felt.

Kaoru had bit her lip, waiting.

The man had stood, seemingly uncaring, as the older woman ranted. He began to pat the air, a calming affect that was not working. The woman continued to speak coarsely, from purpose or from her years, it was impossible to see which. The same word spit from her mouth many times before the man turned to Kaoru, waving his dark-skinned hand towards her, as in giving some permission.

The elderly woman seemed pleased, half hobbling to stand in front of Kaoru again. She placed her leathery hand against her stomach, once more against the small but growing swell. A quickly spoken question flowed from her mouth that the man churned in his mind for the correct words.

"With child?" he asked.

Kaoru bit her lip once more, nodding. Foreign tears spilled from her sapphire eyes.

The younger woman that had watched hollered joyously, calling loudly to others around. They flocked Kaoru, babbling in their unknown tongue with some unknown happiness.

Kaoru later learned from her time among them—along with many other interesting things about such a different people—not only to speak their tongue, but that birth was a cause of extreme joy. For her, a mere straggler they happened by, they threw a large feast of odd but delicious foods made just for her because it was said that those foods brought good health for a mother and her child. They, of course did not eat the same food as she. Only a soon-to-be mother could partake of it. Bad luck upon the one who ate the food that was not with child, as well as for the mother and child.

Until the birth of her son, the people had treated her with much care. She walked for exercise but was allowed, even forced, to rest at certain times. Those times were chosen periodically and without any set time in between when a few of the women already with children would shoo her to a cart to sit. It grew more frequent the larger her belly became.

Kaoru often spent her nights worrying over the life she carried. She would lay awake, running her hand over her belly and the child, as he grew, would often follow his mother's touch. He had enjoyed with much enthusiasm to kick. She had frequently become sick after nearly every meal. One exception was meat left mostly uncooked that ran a bit bloody into her mouth with each bite. The babe had been clam then.

Her true fears had not, however, lain in the child, but the sire of the child. How her tears would run when her thoughts returned to his magnificent face, his touch, the feel of flight while wrapped in his iron cold arms that gave her such a security that there was nothing she could have possibly feared. He stole that away from her, and he took a part of her with him, never to return it to her soul. With the pillar she had foolishly built him up to be in her eyes, when he left she had nothing left but a cold fear, icier than his skin. He had stolen her strength she willingly gave to him to hold. Only now, seven years passed, has she gained some of that back by her own willpower, her own strength. And, she now had a part of him as well, no doubt unwillingly so.

On a warm summer evening, as the people settled to sleep at the fall of the light, Kaoru decided, whole-hearted, that this child would never see the thing that was its father.

The fateful night, just as the weather was beginning to turn cooler, after much time in dealing with 'the Stubborn One' the women had dubbed her son laughingly, the little boy was bundled up in his exhausted mother's arms. Not even in his first moments in the world did he cry. Tears in her eyes, she gazed at the small babe, his thin tuff of hair already screaming of his father. She brushed the deeper flames of hair across his head.

The women stood around her cooing from a distance, waiting for the mother to bond with her child. One spoke, slowly so Kaoru could understand from what little she did know at the point in time.

"The child's name?"

"Kenji." Kaoru said with a smile, a faltering twinge of regret sparking in her chest.

The name was passed throughout the people. Little Kenji, for he was a small one. Stubborn Kenji, for the long time that it did take for him to be born.

Kaoru remained with the nomads the longest time then she had anywhere, but after the two years, the thunderous sound that was her terror, the boiling clouds of rain drove her from the people she grew to love. She and the two-year-old Kenji had fled westward.

"Mother," Kenji spoke into her silent reverie.

"Yes?" she blinked, finding the seat in front of her empty. "Kenji?"

"Behind you," he said, placing his chin on her shoulder with a smile.

"When did you get back there?"

"While you were thinking," he stated factually.

"I will have to make sure and keep a closer eye on you next time before you go and play on a horse again, hm? You could have fallen."

Kenji's face scrunched. "Aw, no I wouldn't," he gazed at her with wide, child eyes. He giggled and patted her shoulder. "You give a good mother look."

"Kenji," she spoke in her warning tone.

"Sorry!" he smiled.

She shook her head, hiding her own grin. "Now what was it you wanted me for?"

"Look at all the food that Ms. Tae gave us. It's a lot!" he held a fruit over her shoulder for her to see.

Kaoru turned and saw the woven baskets tied securely to the horse, one hanging on each side that bounced with each clopping hoof-step against the hard ground. But her exclamation was for the sight of her son standing up on the rump of the animal.

"Kenji!"

"What?" he asked innocently.

"What are you doing standing up? Sit down!"

"But, mother, I haven't fallen! See?" he spread his arms wide.

"Sit down!"

He huffed, sliding to sit against her back.

Kaoru held her hand over her beating heart. It proved all the more just how much he was like his father. A boy of seven years in age would never have been able to stand much less squat down on the backside of a horse walking even on flat, unscarred ground. The land had changed, became rocky and lurching and the boy was standing! A talent of such balance, perfect balance, was not human.

Kenji had shown many times of the more powerful blood that surged in his veins, balance being only one of them. At six years old, he proved his true nature when he had found a woman unconscious and bleeding to death sprawled on the streets in a small village just outside the lodging house they were taking shelter in. He had rushed to find Kaoru, and had helped his mother bring the woman inside. As the village doctor was on his way, Kaoru barely managed to break the boy free from the woman's arm where a long wound bled, and his small lips had latched. In her terror, she gave Kenji his own fright as she raised her voice at him. Only his quiet tears rolling from puzzled and fearful eyes stalled her released frustration and unease. Trembling, she had taken him in her arms with tears pouring into his hair as she apologized, but firmly told him never to do that again.

Even then, she had to wonder if keeping him from the substance that the boy needed was the right thing. He ate normal food all the time, but it never seemed to give him proper nourishment. He still frequently becomes ill, and his size is much smaller than a boy should be.

It has been something else to burden her anxious mind and uneasy heart.

* * *

"_It must be luck that I came along in time of need_," his voice was whispering, amber eyes shining in the perpetual darkness of her dream, her nightmare.

She tried running from the menacing eyes, all of him that could be seen besides the sparking glints of fang hanging from his lips. It was useless. She was never carried further away, but he also never drew closer.

There was warmth that flowed down her neck in thin rivulets. She touched her fingers to her skin, the deep color shining as did his eyes in the dark. A brush of lips traced the trail down her neck, across her collarbone, and to her trembling jaw. He was leaning over her, his fangs pressing into her flesh again.

Paralyzed, she could not even scream.

He kissed her, the strong taste of blood flavoring as his tongue delved into her mouth, ripping a ragged moan of fear and pleasure from her throat. Her blood dripped from his chin as he gazed to her face. There was no expression in his glowing eyes, but he spoke again, the milky white fangs brushing over her neck.

"_It must be luck that I came along in the time of need_."

Kaoru gasped as she woke, the night sky's stars winking in the greater distance of the heavens. Beside her, Kenji still slept peacefully, but his chest barely rose with shallow breaths. It was another human thing she wondered if the boy actually needed or not.

The words of her dream still echoed in her sleep muddled mind, but a horrible call, a gargling howl rose somewhere over the hills. The horse snorted and tugged slightly on its rope tied to a small tree. The animal could easily break free if it truly wanted. An answering call rose in the opposite direction, closer.

Kaoru began gathering up their things, tossing everything upon the jittery horse. She soothed the animal with gentile words and strokes, masking her own alarm as she woke Kenji.

He began complaining but Kaoru picked him up from under the arms. He swayed and rubbed his eyes, fully awake a moment later.

"What is it?" he asked.

Kaoru pulled him up after her into the animal. Another warbling howl rose, much closer than before.

"What was that?"

The horse danced uneasily under them, its nostrils flaring wide as it snorted. Kaoru spurred her forward with a slight kick, and the animal took to a full gallop.

The warbling was much closer, louder as more of them came together for the chase. Kenji looked behind his mother and saw large, round-headed creatures lunging over the crest of the hill they had just passed over. Wide, bottomless red eyes watched them run as long tongues hung from wide, many teethed maws. They gargled amongst themselves, running for the humans and stopping to watch again.

As the sun slowly peeked from under the horizon, they were still behind, running and watching; waiting for the humans and the animal they rode to stop.

Kenji seemed to be asleep, leaning back against his mother. Kaoru slowed their pace to a walk not long beforehand, the horse having grown tired. But the Lesser started becoming bolder, coming nearly close enough to toss something at. They kept their mangy furred bodies low to the chillier ground as they crept forward, warbling to each other softly. Broad mouths would open, displaying their rows of razor teeth and mahogany-blue tongue.

"Mother?" Kenji asked suddenly, looking up to her.

"Yes?"

"Are they still following us?"

She nodded.

"You look sleepy," he observed. "Can you take a nap? I'll watch for a while."

"Thank you, Kenji," she said, "but I will stay awake. You don't have to worry." She smiled.

"Ok, then," he sat back against her again. "It's getting colder."

"It is," she agreed. "We should be in the northern valley in a week or so."

"They won't follow us that long, will they?"

Kaoru quickly looked to the side, another one trying to come up closer. It stopped as she saw it, its reddish eyes unblinking as it stared back. "I hope they do not, Kenji. I truly hope not."

By twilight, Kaoru was walking ahead with the rope in hand and Kenji down beside her since he refused to stay atop the animal. He argued that she needed rest and that he could walk on his own. Kaoru relented easily, the circles under her eyes a bit darker than before.

If anything, it seemed there were more of the Lesser at their heels now, but not a single one tried to get too close. They wanted to, they wanted to bad enough to make their scaled and furred bodies shake as they would scoot nearer. Even the group efforts were thwarted by some unseen force.

Kaoru vaguely wondered if it had anything to do with her son that strode happily by her munching on a snack, sucking the juices from the fruit.

Just ahead, there was a terrible screaming that suddenly rose into the pale blue sky. It echoed over the hills, a gurgling screech accompanied by many terrified yelps. The Lesser behind them ran forward, darting past on thick legs. Many were rumbling with guttural, watery sounding growls.

Kaoru stopped, taking Kenji by the shoulder and pulling him to her side. His eyes widened as a shiver ran the length of both their spines. The piercing scream, if possible, rose in pitch, a terrible raking noise.

All became silent in a matter of moments.

Slowly, Kaoru took them forward. She held her hand to Kenji, telling him to wait at the foot of the slope. He nodded reluctantly, looking almost longingly to see what lie over the hill. Kaoru inched up the side, careful of the reaching grasses. She took a swift glance before her stomach compiled its complaint with what her eyes had seen. She quickly withdrew from the crest and sat down as a wave of nausea wrenched a dry heave from her. Kenji was beside her, looking at the obstructing hilltop from what was beyond.

"There's a lot of blood," he said matter-of-factly, looking into her pale face.

Even being just odd creatures, Kaoru doubted anything should have been slaughtered in such a gruesome manner. Torn apart, a number of the Lesser lay scattered in pieces. There was so much blood, splattered across the ground in thick pools that have not sunk into the hard ground. It was enough to have been a pool of water gathering in a depression between the twin crests of the hill.

Kaoru shivered. The severed head of the one she had clearly seen right before her had its lower jaw ripped free, the spine extending from the neck of the creature glistening with blood. Another's chest cavity spilled its entrails out on the blood-covered soil. That was all she saw of that single creature, the rest ripped free and tossed elsewhere that she did not see.

After a time, Kaoru stood shakily. She called to Kenji, who had his gaze fixed on the crest of the hill, watching it with emotionless eyes. She shivered again as she called him once more.

"Coming," he said, standing. "You're feeling better, right mother?" He smiled.

"Yes." She glanced at him with a slight frown but he had turned away before she could confirm what she thought were pointed teeth stretching from his upper jaw. She sighed heavily, rubbing her hand over her worried brow.

* * *

"Look, mother! Look at that! I think we're finally here!" Kenji pointed wildly at the looming mountain rising in the distance, his long sleeve falling over his finger. A white skin covered the entire mountain, as well as the ground all around it. White-grey clouds hung over the mountain, snow-filled clouds.

Kaoru smiled, forgetting for a moment about the black clouds raging behind them, clashing the earth with rain. A far-off thunderclap prodded her forward before she replied to her son's joyous remarks.

"It is, Kenji," she smiled again. "Do you like it?"

He nodded. "I like it enough. We're going to find someone soon, right? We're running out of food." He held the one basket and showed her the lacking supplies.

"Kenji, you eat much more than you need," she half scolded.

"I can't help it," he declared. "It doesn't fill me up, so I keep eating."

The horse quivered under them, taking unsteady steps and snorting unhappily, shaking her mane.

"Here, mother," Kenji began sliding from the horse's back. "She needs some rest."

Kaoru followed her son, descending from the back of the animal. She tucked his heavy clothing more securely around him as he bounced excitedly.

"Kenji," she chuckled, "Hold still for a moment. You are very excited."

"Yes," he smiled. "I want to start the indoor garden right away! When are we going to get our home?"

"It might be a while," she admitted. She smiled and pinched his nose. He squealed, holding his face indignantly. "But we will find a home, Kenji. Don't worry."

"Who's that?"

Kaoru looked to where he pointed. She did not see anyone. "Where?"

"Down there. Way down there. Somebody's walking down there."

Kaoru squinted but she knew she would not be able to see anyway. The boy's eyesight was immaculate.

"Can't you see?" he asked with a look in his shining eyes.

"We'll have to go see who it is," she smiled. "Maybe there's a village nearby."

Down in the valley, Kenji saw his first snow that he could remember. He buried his hands in the cold stuff until he could stand it no longer. He patted and mashed the powder together to for balls and threw them at his mother. She retaliated by catching the boy after a time of running from her, laughing and screaming. She picked him up easily from his lacking size up-side-down and carried him to a large drift, and tossed him into it. He sank deep into the snow, grinning as he dug his way out, snow powdering his red hair.

The next day, after their first night in true cold, the old horse would not get up, its mouth open and eyes staring without sight. Kenji sadly patted the animal's side and removed the rope from around its head before they walked away. Kaoru slung the baskets around her shoulders; the blanket from the animal's back tucked within one side.

The cold, blue sky was clouding over and Kaoru grew subconsciously weary of the formation in the skies. They were silent, though, peaceful as they rolled over each other. Nevertheless, Kaoru did not want to be caught under them if they happen to release their weight on the world.

A rather large building came into view. Wooden but very warm to the look of it, its many windows were covered over with small shutters or a draping cloth that blew in with the wind. The roof was made of the same wood as the rest of it, but it was also slanted and very much so. Another smaller structure sat off to the side, a plume of smoke bellowing from a long flue that rose above the structure.

A woman not a couple years younger than Kaoru stepped from the doorway of the smaller hut, closing the door behind her. She did not seem too surprised to suddenly find strangers at her doorstep when she made eye contact with them.

"Hello." She smiled warmly at them. In her hands she held a platter of meat, uncooked. She rested the large amount of red meat on her hip as she went forward.

"Hello!" Kenji answered.

"I haven't seen you two around here before." She said, looking from Kaoru to Kenji and back.

"We just arrived in the area actually," Kaoru explained. "Is there a village nearby?"

The woman shook her head, her short black hair swaying. "No. I'm afraid this is all there is. Why don't you come inside? You look just about frozen!"

"Thank you." Kaoru said graciously.

They followed her inside the larger dwelling. The front was simple: just a place to shed extra clothing and thick foot-wear to not track anything further inside. The bigger room was very spacious, with enough room for a good number of people to be comfortable. There was not much inside except a few thick animal skins hanging from the wall and a homemade seat or two and a wooden short table decorating the floor. To the right, a long hall guided down to where the rooms for sleeping much have been, which must have been many from the length. That took the majority of the home, this foyer-like area just the north end of it.

"Ah, forgive me," The woman said sheepishly, "I am Tsubame."

"Kaoru. And this is-"

"I'm Kenji," he said.

Tsubame smiled. "You remind me of my little one who is out with his father. You'll meet him when they get back."

"Ok!"

"You don't mind us intruding," Kaoru inquired.

"Not at all!" Tsubame laughed. "It's not often we have guests. Not in these parts. Make yourselves at home. I'll be back in a moment."

"This is very nice," Kaoru walked around, observing the room.

"Thank you," Tsubame said, returned and without the platter. "This home has been in my husband's family for many generations. He's very proud of it."

"Do you have a big family?" Kaoru asked. "There are an awful lot of rooms down the hall."

"You could say that." Tsubame stepped towards the doorway and peered down the darken hall. "It's more of an extended family, really. But we haven't seen them in a while. They all scattered about a little over two years ago."

"I'm sorry," Kaoru apologized.

"It's ok. What's done is done. There's not much you can do once people have their mind made up, even if it seems to be the wrong path they're taking."

Kaoru nodded her agreement. "What happened?"

Tsubame waved her hand, seeming a bit annoyed remembering. "Oh, it was a petty argument within the pac- within the family," she corrected herself. Kaoru frowned a second at the self-correction. "A disagreement really. It went from bad to worse, so many of them decided just to leave. The troublemaker was a young man who hated the way certain things were being done at the time. But many agreed alongside him."

"I see," Kaoru said. "Well, I hope your family comes back to their senses."

Tsubame smiled. "Thank you. I hope so too."

"Tsubame! Get your son some hot water. He got himself cut." A deep voice boomed from the outside, and the front door flew open.

"I'm ok, father!" A young boy complained. "It's a small scratch!"

"You need to be more careful," his father said, his voice closer in the home, "when your transfor-" A man a bit taller than Kaoru walked into the room, his black hair wildly spiked on his head. Deep brown eyes narrowed in confusion as he closed his mouth to what he would have said. A boy with equally wild back hair peered from behind him, his lighter brown eyes searching mischievously at the people in the room.

"Yahiko," Tsubame said happily, "This is Kaoru and her son, Kenji. They're new around here and I was just showing them around."

Yahiko nodded to them. "I'll go get the water," he muttered.

Tsubame sighed. "You'll have to forgive him, I'll ask in advance. He usually has no qualms about speaking his mind. And this is Shinya." She took the black-hair boy to Kenji. "This is Kenji. Why don't you two play?"

Kenji stood to face the other boy who looked to be about the same age. They stood nose-to-nose as they stared at each other for a moment.

"How'd you get that?" Kenji asked, indicating the slash across Shinya's leg that bled through the surprisingly thin fabric.

Shinya grinned. "I got this today…"

The boys enjoyed speaking of that injury and others as well. Both boys wanted to tell about wounds neither could prove since they all seemed to have healed without so much as a scar while their mothers watched quietly.

Yahiko entered again, carrying a bucket of steaming water. "Shinya, come here."

The boy groaned but obeyed his father. He sat next to him and pulled the pant leg up to his knee. Kenji knelt next to them to watch. He was fascinated as the man cleaned out the wound, Shinya acting tough with the other boy in the room. Tsubame and Kaoru chuckled. When finished, Yahiko ruffled Shinya's hair and teasingly joked with him about something. The boy laughed, jumping to his father's back and yelling as they tramped out to dump the bucket of water.

Kenji silently watched the whole thing, and knelt still after the two left.

"He doesn't have his father, does he?" Tsubame asked to the expression on both mother and son's faces as Kaoru watched him.

She shook her head. "No. He's never known his father."

"Poor thing," Tsubame began. "It must be hard on a boy not to have his father there. What happened?"

Kaoru swallowed. "He left."

"Oh. I'm very sorry for bringing it up, Kaoru."

"You're fine. I would rather he not know his father anyway."

Tsubame studied the boy, her eyes searching. "I understand," she said at last.

"Kenji!" Shinya hollered, careening back into the room. He grabbed his sleeve. "C'mon!"

"Where're we going?"

"I'll show you! C'mon! C'mon!"

Kenji resisted, glimpsing to his mother.

"Well, go on," she said.

He smiled, letting Shinya drag him along.

"Shinya," Tsubame began to warn.

"Let them play, Tsubame," Yahiko said, sitting in one of the chairs and kicking his feet up on a low, small table. He glanced at Kaoru. "So, how long are you staying?"

"Yahiko!" Tsubame admonished.

"Eh," he scoffed. "We need to know to make sure they don't plan on leaving too soon. There is a bad one coming up and they don't need to be out in the middle of it."

Tsubame glared slightly at him, but agreed. "You can stay as long as you like. Just pick any room you want."

"You might not want one of the ones that doesn't have a closed window," Yahiko explained. "Gets pretty cold in those rooms. I'll show you which ones you would want."

He took her down the hall and into a number of different rooms, each varying in size and number of floor beds.

"Things are pretty much loose around here," he continued as they walked. "Tsubame here does all the cooking and cleaning," he grinned as she thumped the back of his head.

"We eat whenever everyone is up, but don't worry if you oversleep," Tsubame said. "We are used to the late sleepers."

* * *

At dinner, there was a gathering of the winds. They howled and stirred the snow already blanketing the ground until the outside took the appearance of snowing upward back to the clouds instead of rightfully down to earth.

The platter of meat—the one Tsubame had the moment they met—was the dinner, and that was all. Just meat.

Shinya jealously eyed his father's plate and the still a bit bloody quality of it while he poked at his fully cooked dish just like everyone else's. Kenji, Kaoru saw from the corner of her eye as she spoke with Tsubame, eyed Yahiko's plate as well.

The door boomed as it suddenly slammed open, curses floating down the entryway above the rising shrill of the wind. The shut door muffled the noise but heavy footsteps carried the man to where the food was.

"Sano!" Shinya greeted happily, leaping from his seat and tackling the tall, lanky brunette.

"Is it me, or have you gotten smaller?" Sano asked, ruffling his hand roughly over the boy's head.

"I have not!" he protested, but Sano was not paying attention to him anymore.

"Well, damnit, Sanosuke," Yahiko growled at the taller man, "You've made her mad again, haven't you?"

Sano scratched the back of his head as Tsubame warned the both of them about their language around the children. "I'm not sure. I don't remember doing anything." He sat heavily on a cushion, scooting up to the table and helping himself.

"Kaoru, Kenji," Tsubame offered when neither of the men decided to take the initiative. "This is Sanosuke. He's the one member that has stayed with us."

"Though only to be a pig and a damn nuisance all the time," Yahiko muttered.

Sano inclined his rowdily haired head to the both of them with a pleasant grin. "I guess you are staying for a bit, then? They wouldn't put you out in this. Well, this idiot might, but his female wouldn't let him."

Yahiko sneered.

"They are staying until it is safe enough for them to pass." Tsubame answered. "And until they feel it is time to go."

"It might be a long time before this storm is over anyway, so I'm sure that's a good thing." Sano muttered.

"Damnit!" Yahiko thundered. "You did anger her again! Why can't you keep your stupid remarks to yourself?!"

"I didn't say a damn thing." Sano defended. "She's the one that suddenly wanted to make me into a nice ice sculpture in the middle of the mountain."

Yahiko had his broad hand covering his eyes as he groaned. "You are a damned imbecile."

"Regardless," Tsubame broke into the middle with a glare. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Though you should really learn how to handle yourself around her, Sanosuke."

He smirked. "You've been around him too long. You are beginning to think like him. Except smarter."

"This is ridiculous," Yahiko stood, stretching. "I'm going to bed. Shinya, you too."

"Aw!" he complained, but he scurried to his room.

"Kenji." Kaoru spoke to her son, then to Tsubame. "Thank you for dinner."

"It was no problem. I'm glad to help." She smiled.

Yahiko was still standing, scratching his head when the soft close of a door clattered shut down the hall. He turned hard, brown eyes to another pair of chocolate brown.

"Did you see the kid?"

"Yes," Sano agreed. "He is certainly something else. That is a cold body for having a human for a mother. He smells similar to Megumi, in a way. A little bit like those lunatics that came rampaging through here a few weeks ago too."

"That is exactly what I thought." Yahiko frowned, glancing to the silent Tsubame. "What do you think we should do?"

"We have no problem with his kind, that much is clear." She offered.

"And the reason this pack split in such a terrible way." Yahiko glared to the thinking Sano. "It's you and your woman-thing that got us in this fucking mix."

"Do not blame this on her," Sano warned, meeting the younger man's gaze levelly.

"I see no problems with this." Tsubame finished. She began gathering the dishes. "But this is your territory, Yahiko. You can do what you see fit."

He smiled. "You'll have a word or two to add in."

"Of course. So choose the right thing." She planted a kiss on his cheek before leaving the room, stepping outside to take the dishes to the separated kitchen in the other building.

"That woman's leash on you gets smaller and smaller." Sano grinned.

"And I guess that you are free enough to piss your woman off so bad. In my opinion, an ice sculpture Sano would be a better, easier to deal with Sano." He smirked before sauntering off to his and Tsubame's room, tossing a curt wave over his shoulder.

* * *

"So, tell me," Kaoru said as Tsubame sewed together the pants Shinya had ripped the day before. "Who is it they were speaking of yesterday? Sanosuke's woman?"

Tsubame nodded. "Yes. The Shadow of this region."

Kaoru's heart thudded to a momentary halt; her face must have gone pale since Tsubame asked if she was alright.

"Yes, I am fine. The Shadow of the region?" she asked.

"Megumi. Shadow of snow and ice." Tsubame chuckled. "It's interesting how two very different species can possibly find an attraction in one another."

"It may not be as…odd as it seems."

"Maybe not," Tsubame relented slowly, eyeing Kaoru with a thoughtful look. "But I believe this is very different from what you seem to already know."

"How so? There is nothing wrong with a human and Shadow…" she trailed from her thought, biting back the words that suddenly threatened to come forth.

"Ah," Tsubame said nothing more on the matter. "It looks as if she was not as angry like we first thought."

Kaoru followed her gaze to a square window perched in the middle of the wall. Little rays of sunlight filtered down past the clouds. Only a light flurry of snow flitted from the sky.

"The boys will want to go out and play." Tsubame stood, calling down the hall where the boys' voices carried from.

The patter of their bare feet popped down the wooden floors as they ran to stand against the frame looking outside.

"Kenji," Kaoru called as he followed Shinya. The other boy dove out into the drifts without anything extra for clothing against the cold. The chill did not appear to have an affect on him. Kaoru bundled Kenji up as he bounced, then turned him loose. Shinya laughed at his large wardrobe but Kenji just stuck his tongue at him, readying a ball of snow to throw.

"You don't have to worry if they run off. Shinya knows the way around nearly as well as Yahiko and Sano do." Tsubame assured when Kaoru continued watching the boys, her face wrinkled with worry. "He knows if the storm decides to return and will come inside."

"I am…just so concerned for him," Kaoru spoke softly. "So many things..."

"But we cannot protect them from everything forever, can we?"

Kaoru churned those words in her mind, wondering helplessly if someday, perhaps someday soon, if Kenji will finally grow tired of feeling his inhuman hunger and relish the ways of his father. He knows, possibly not everything, but some, of what he is capable of. She wondered if he had wings blacker than night that spread wide and could carry him into the sky, if fangs that stay hidden within his mouth could reach to his chin in length. Or if. Or if. There were so many things that made her wonder just how long it would be before he would want to break free from her tight hold, from her, possibly, altogether.

She would tell herself: but he does not know of those things. But what keeps him from seeing his true self? There was nothing she could do for him. Nothing she could help him with if he found these traits tucked away inside him, waiting for the opportune moment to release. Only one had the power to do so, but she could not force that burden on herself in such a way again.

The mere thought, as always, brought a tearful face, and a wish to be elsewhere, anywhere but where she was. It was the drive to run that fueled her escape and the seven years of constant moving around to find the right spot, the right place, but never finding a thing. Her wings have long since grown heavy with the continuous work, she thought there to be no flight left in her anymore.

"No," Kaoru consented wearily, a sad smile on her lips. "We cannot."

"Forgive me for asking this of you, but you seem like you could use a good distraction."

"Actually, a distraction would be nice."

Tsubame smiled. "Well, then, I have a few things that can be done in a number of the rooms. If you would not mind doing them."

"Of course not!" Kaoru stood as Tsubame did. "I'd be happy to help-" she jerked her hand from Tsubame's shoulder as if burned. Her hand felt as if she had touched a small flame. She stared incredulously as Tsubame smiled apologetically.

"When I said a difference in species, I meant even from human."

"Mother, mother!" Kenji hollered as he ran inside, ignoring the shock in the air. "Shinya's skin is so hot that he melts snow if he sits long enough!"

* * *

"A pack of Demon?" Kaoru asked. Tsubame as well as Sano and Yahiko sat gathered in the north wing room. The men looked none too happy about having been pulled from whatever they had been doing before Tsubame had called them back to the home. They had left early that morning but had come running after a long wolf howl rose and echoed.

"I never liked that name," Sano muttered, scratching at his ear.

"We were until they found out about Sano and Megumi. Many felt betrayed that he would find a mate outside the species."

"She is not my mate," Sano muttered again. "At least she won't be."

Yahiko snorted from his chair. "It's because you are a stupid-"

"That is the tale I told you the first day you came," Tsubame interrupted her mate, shooting the both of them a look. "In essence, it is all Sanosuke's fault but I would we rather gotten rid of all the ones who were not truly loyal to their alpha pair then have a pack that was always in discontent. That is not a stable pack or a safe one."

"I can understand." Kaoru nodded. Yahiko had, when he skidded to a halt inside the home panting and asking what the problem was, unwillingly got her a bucket with some snow inside to place her hand since they had nothing else more suitable for the minor burn. It was more slightly uncomfortable than a pain, really, and a tad bit red, but Tsubame insisted that she place something cold on it. "Something like that is not easily accepted by others."

"You are speaking from experience." Yahiko stated.

"Yes."

"Do you care to elaborate for us?" Sano asked.

"Not really, if you do not mind me to say. That is something I will not easily share and, forgive me, but I have not known any of you for very long."

"We understand. We do not mean to push." Tsubame assured. "Personal is personal. We won't press."

Sano snorted, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Well, we do not need such a dull atmosphere for the boys." Tsubame said with a small tired smile. "They need to be coming in now. The weather has picked up again."

Yahiko stood and moved for the door. Shinya beat him to it.

"Mother!" he hollered frantically, running inside and nearly toppling his father. "I cannot find Kenji anywhere!"

Kaoru was on her feet, making for the door as Yahiko held his son.

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know!" Shinya answered in a panic. "We didn't go far! Just to the tree line! I knew the storm would come back so I didn't go farther!"

Yahiko handed the boy to his mother. She tried to shush him quietly, wiping his tears from his face. He and Sano stepped outside, their noses to the air as they tested for which way Kenji had gone. Kaoru came soon after.

"Woman, where are you thinking that you are going to go?" Sano asked.

"I am looking for my son," she said blatantly.

"The hell you are," Yahiko snorted. "We can survive a storm. The heat of our body allows that easily, even in a dangerous one. You will die."

"I am looking for my son," she repeated, staring the man down.

Yahiko scoffed.

"Subjugated by a human female," Sano said laughingly, shaking his unruly head.

"A mother with a lost child, no matter what species, is a frightening thing."

* * *

Kaoru stumbled in drift after drift, searching for red of his hair if he happen to be buried under the accumulating snow. She lost sight of Yahiko and Sano some time before, but she was not worried to keep them within her sights. She shivered from the cold wrapping around her more secure than a blanket, sinking past the thickly woven threads of her clothing. It crawled over her skin after the time she spent stumbling helplessly, pushing walls of snow from her treading leaden feet. She shivered from the dull thud of thunder beating against the light grey eternal roof overhead that opened its gates, releasing its tiny messengers across the frozen landscape. The white fluff with the stinging touch of soft velvet, it showed her the death of her son.

Every hill she crossed, every step she took raised the fear of finding him without another laugh, another smile, another breath in him. Numb fingers blindly searched inside a body-shaped dune of snow. Had there been anything inside, would she have felt it? Had she touched anything at all?

Crystals of breath fogged her vision, and she staggered to rest alongside the cold trunk of a tall tree. She dare not sit down for fear of never standing again. Kaoru looked behind her; the home of Yahiko, Tsubame, and Shinya and Sanosuke stood far out of view. Nothing. Nothing but trees and falling pieces of clouds floated and clung to her lashes. Her hoarse voice broke, faltering as she called Kenji's name over again.

Falling to her knees, she cried toward the skies. "Megumi!" she forced past the roughness of her desperate call. "Megumi, please! Release your hold on my son! Let me find him, please! Calm your charge!" Tears poured from her eyes, slowly traveling her deadened skin. "Megumi, let me find my son!"

Her pleadings echoed in the still silence of the snowfall, save the rising rumble from the clouds above.

The rustle of wings was so slight, a bare sound, Kaoru thought the imagination had taken hold of her wandering mind. She was startled to find a woman, taller than her by a fair amount, standing just to the side. Night-black wings donned her back elegantly; the black feathers tipped in a white tinted in blue the look of frozen water, one of this woman's wards. Long black hair cascaded down her back, and over her shoulders. Clear, haunting cinnamon eyes stared, a same stare bringing shivers to Kaoru's spine. The Shadow wore a deep, nearly black purple in the exact style as the Shadow Kaoru knew before, but with much more of a female touch to it. The pants were decorated in the unintelligible black designs swirling about the pure black fabric.

"You called," Megumi spoke, derision heavy in her words. "Now have you forgotten what it was you wanted?"

Kaoru shook from her stupor, gathering her wobbling legs under her. "My son. He is out here, somewhere. Can you please help me find him and calm this storm?"

Megumi remained silent as the snow, searching the human over. As Kaoru waited, a cold patter of rain pattered across her face, across the ground.

"Now you call frozen rain?" Kaoru asked, bewildered and angered. "Did you not hear me? My son is lost in your storms and you make it worse!"

"Do not argue with me. This boy of yours is no concern of mine." Megumi spread her wings as if ready to take flight.

"Wait, Megumi!" Kaoru reached. "Can't you carry out my request?"

Megumi frowned. "It snows. I cannot stop it simply on a whim."

"Then why the rains?!"

"I have no control over the rains." Megumi said calmly, making a fool of Kaoru merely with her words of explanation. "You know the one who does. Complain to him, not to me."

Megumi waved her hand to behind Kaoru, and her heart stopped beating, frozen like the land in her chest. She feared to turn and quell the question in her mind. She feared it more than ever in seven years, yet she turned and her body became numb, completely and wholly under the cold amber stare with a halo of flame about his face.

* * *

"Megumi," Kenshin spoke, his voice burning Kaoru's ears as it flowed. "Thank you."

The Shadow nodded, spreading her wings and beating the calm wind, stirring the snow around where she had stood into a plume.

"No," Kaoru said softly.

Kenshin walked forward.

"No," she denied, shaking her head.

"Kaoru."

"No!" Kaoru struck him. Her fingers curled angrily before she hit him, and he allowed his head to snap to the side as her fist struck his cheek.

He chuckled as her chest heaved under the forceful demands her lungs asked for air.

"Did that satisfy you?" he mocked his question, but his eyes held no mirth. "I thought not," he said to her uneasy stillness. "You are very difficult to find for a human, little one."

"When I don't want to be found," she snarled, stepping back from him with her hand cradled to her chest.

Kenshin studied her. "You ran."

"I ran," she agreed, tilting her head up in defiance.

He frowned. "Why did you run from me?"

"I came to my senses. I'm not a silly little girl who does not know anything anymore. You can leave again, Kenshin, but there is nothing here left I will allow you to take."

"You have grown, but there is much you still do not know." His voice was soft but angry. "You will not run from me again."

"I don't want a lecture from you. I want you to leave me alone!"

"You haven't been satisfied," he stated, stopping her cold. "You have run and run, yet there always was something missing."

"I don't need this from you," Kaoru repeated, more for her own assurance than to warn the Shadow.

"All the years and you have not known." His swift movement called a startled gasp from her lips. She had forgotten his speed and silence. His hand touched her neck, and he ran his finger over reddening spots on her nape. "This mark I gave you made you mine, little one. You left me and that is what forced that feeling while I was gone from you. You left," he accused darkly.

Kaoru trembled. She trembled from his vile touch; she trembled as she leaned into his hand.

"Has time changed you?" she whispered, nearly soft enough to be only for herself, her own wish.

"Time?" he scoffed. "I cannot recalled time, nor does it have any hand over me. I have all of it in the world. There never will be a change in me."

She nodded. "You are right. Nothing has changed. You will go again, and again. It will not stop."

"I had to leave," he said coldly. "There was no reason for the rains to remain near your village any longer. It would have become unbalanced had it rained anymore."

Kaoru was quiet, contemplating before angry sapphires turned up to his face. "That is your reasoning for leaving me?!"

Kenshin lazily eyed her outburst, his hand floating in air where she had stood after she stepped away. It fell slowly to his side. "It is a perfect reason. If you knew how-"

"Enlighten me, please!" she interrupted heatedly. "The pitiful human would like to know the higher thinking of the Shadow-kind-!"

"If you knew how we keep the balance in the earth," he roared, thunder echoing his words, "you would understand! We are not here simply to exist! We have purpose! We keep the world in the stable pattern as it has been set from the time of the Mother's creation! We were giving the rule of these things and we must remain constant in what is put before us!"

Kaoru had crossed her arms and turned from him, clearly unwilling to hear his explanation. She refused to acknowledge his words had merit. She believed him wholeheartedly, and hated him for it.

"I have undone the delicate balance by being here," he said mildly, "to find you."

"Why could you not tell me that the first time? I would have waited for you again, whenever it was you would have returned. You caused this…this pain and fear that slowly consumed me."

Kenshin shook his head. "You did not heed my words, then."

"I listened to every word you ever spoke to me," she breathed, tilting her head slightly to peer sideways from the corner of her eye at him.

"Not truly. I said that your fears, no matter what they are or how long it takes, would eventually be brought upon you, and here I stand now. Your fear."

"My fear." She turned to face him. "Kenshin, my only true fear was you, and it still is. I fear you for I know that you will have to leave, even if only for a short time."

"You are not such a heavy weight for me," he said. "Carrying is an option as it was before." His great night-black wings furled on his back. "I have a mind not to ever let you from my sight again."

"We will have to wait and see." She was slowly moving towards him as she spoke, and now leaned into him. She did not wrap her arms around him, but stood next to the chill of his body with her head resting on his chest. Her childish tears ran silently down her face; his iron grip draped around her waist, comforting even in its lacking sentiment.

Megumi appeared on the stillness of her feathered wings, alighting behind the human.

"I found him," she sounded rather bored as she told the news. "Your son."

Kaoru nearly exclaimed her thanks when she felt Kenshin's grip on her tighten. She turned fearful eyes to his stoic features.

"Kenshin, I-"

"Your child?" he asked softly.

"Kenshin," she pleaded. "Let me explain-"

"Whose?"

Kaoru searched his face, panicked. "What?"

"Whose child is it?"

"Yours."

His eyes pierced as he looked at her. "Do not toy with me."

"I wouldn't-"

"Who have you been with to have had a child?!" he bellowed. Kaoru jerked backwards but his grasp would not let her go.

"Kenshin, I have been with no other!" she fisted her fingers in his garments, pleading with him to listen to her. "I would never! I couldn't."

Skeptical ambers stared, but she insisted.

"Won't you look at him for yourself and see how much he resembles you? Kenshin, please."

"It is not possible…" he denied.

"See with your own eyes, Kenshin. Please. You must believe me."

Kenshin glanced to Megumi, but he only got a frustrated glare by the other Shadow.

Kaoru broke from his arms, asking Megumi to show her to her son. The Shadow pointed the way and watched as Kaoru bolted across the frozen landscape, leaving Kenshin behind. Megumi glanced to him, and took wing southward, the direction of the cabin-home.

A glimpse of red and light blue of his clothing caught her eye, and Kaoru knelt beside the drift that held her son, digging into the bitter snow. She found cloth and pulled the unconscious boy free, holding him tightly in her arms. She stiffened as a pale shadow cast over her.

Kenshin stood above her, peering at the young one. He knelt near her, gazing over the features the boy had that were so much like his own. A hand timidly reached and touched the silken hair of flaming red. Kaoru laughed breathily at the powerful being's hesitation towards a small child.

His head was shaking. "This is impossible."

"He should be proof of otherwise," she smiled at his wide eyes, true emotion showing in them again. He was in wonder.

"His name?"

"Kenji," she told. "His name is Kenji."

Kenshin nodded, examining the sleeping boy. "He seems small, scrawny. You have not allowed him his diet, have you?"

Kaoru shook her head. "I could not bear that he was so much like you."

Kenshin chuckled, standing swiftly. He outstretched his hand. "Come. I will bare you to my home. And there you will stay. Both of you. I am not letting you away, forcibly if necessary." His tone spoke volumes of his lost possession that he had finally found, and he was ready and purely willing to follow through with his word.

Kaoru took the hand of her haunt, the unclear shadow that always followed her. The thunder growled as Kenshin easily took flight, Kaoru and his son in his wintry steel arms.

Warm rain dropped from the billowing clouds, soft as it mingled with the fallen snow, and Kaoru wondered. She wondered, as the landscape blurred underneath the path of the Shadow, what. Simply what. Have her misfortunes finally deceased, or have they only found her again?

It was her fear that held her in his arms, yet she had never felt so secure. She did not want to run. Not anymore.

* * *

Gah. I hope I didn't positively bore anybody. Trust me; the third and final installment to The Shadow series will be much more interesting and fast-paced. I hope. My head is spinning from all the things running around and around in my mind.

Again, if there are any questions—or not, I would like reviews anyway -grin-—feel free to ask. But, also again, there will be a lot explained—mostly about vampire and Shadow but some Demon—in The Shadow III. So if I don't answer your question, you will know why and not get angry or something.

Now, oddly enough—and no doubt the reasoning I couldn't get a single drop of R-rated anything in the thing without strain and some serious brain grease (Kinda gross…)—the playlist for this story was the entire Josh Groban CD, Awake. Just that one CD over and over and over and over again. Geez, and can you wear CDs out, anyway? (Rhetorical and sarcastic question. Please do not answer…) I still cannot figure out why it spurred this along so well when every single other piece of music I own did squat. But, it's just the magic of the imagination and whatever triggers it, I guess. I don't know. I am even making any sense?

Anyway, thanks for reading and see you next addition! Adieu!


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